RUKMANI DEVI Vs. ANIL KUMAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) CM No. 1949/2007 (for condonation of delay) For the reasons stated in the application, the delay is condoned. Application is allowed and disposed of.

(2.) RSA No. 33/2007 and CM No. 1947/2007 Adumbrated in brief the facts of the second appeal filed by appellant/tenant are these. One Sh. Sita Ram Bhandari was the owner of premises No. 5844/57, Ram Durg Building, Jawahar Nagar, Malkaganj Chowk, Delhi, wherein the shop bearing Nos. 9 and 10 were situated. He sold this property to the plaintiffs/respondents vide registered sale deed dated 3rd January, 1996. The appellant was a tenant in respect of shop No. 10. In the suit filed before the trial court the respondents alleged that the appellant forcibly took possession of verandah in front of shop No. 9 and later on fixed the shutter in the verandah. The respondents asked the appellant to hand over the said verandah to them but the request made by them fell on deaf ears. Thereafter, a legal notice was served upon the appellant but it did not produce the desired result. Consequently, the respondents filed the present suit for possession and also claimed Rs. 100 per month as damages for use and occupation of the verandah in dispute.

(3.) The main defence set up by the appellant was that the verandah in question was under use, possession and occupation of the appellant since the inception of the tenancy which was created by the previous owners in the name of deceased Trilok Singh and Umed Singh. There was no occasion for the appellant to illegally and unauhorisedly trespass into the verandah. The verandah was very much within the tenancy of the appellant and other legal heirs of late Trilok Singh. There is no change in the terms of tenancy after the death of Trilok Singh or after the purchase of property in questions by the respondents.